


Heart of Winter

by 13th_blackbird



Series: Winterverse [7]
Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Cotton Candy, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domesticity, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Canon, ascendancy life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 09:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16931067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13th_blackbird/pseuds/13th_blackbird
Summary: Eli and Thrawn, twelve years on.





	Heart of Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Tumblr shortfics](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16894833) by [anthean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthean/pseuds/anthean). 



 

Eli awoke with the vague sense that he was supposed to be somewhere. The wind was howling outside, and he was warm for once, his limbs heavy with sleep.

It was the coldest and fiercest part of the Csillan year; their true winter. Eli remembered how cold he’d been, that first year. That seemed like it had happened to someone else, now.

The room was dark, silent but for the sound of the wind. Csaplar mostly shut down for the worst part of the winter. Even the most dedicated Syndics and members of the Aristocra stopped their scheming and retired to their homes. Buildings in Csaplar were connected by underground tunnels, but even that wasn’t enough to budge people during these few weeks.

Eli relaxed. There wasn’t anywhere to be, after all. It was habit that had woken him. Thrawn wasn’t beside him, which wasn’t unusual. He only needed half the sleep Eli did. Eli let himself drift back into half-sleep, carried along by the sound of the wind.

The bed dipped and Thrawn pressed up against Eli’s back, his head on Eli’s shoulder. Eli sighed.

“I brought you something,” Thrawn murmured, after a moment.

Eli groaned. “Don’t make me,” he warned.

“It would be best to ward off the possibility of relapse,” Thrawn said. Eli could hear a hint of humor in his voice.

“I’m not going to relapse.”

“You did last year,” Thrawn pointed out. “And you said if you ever experienced the virus a third time, I should put you out of your misery permanently.”

“Well, I was delirious at the time,” Eli said.

“Nonetheless,” Thrawn said. He was stroking Eli’s back now, the gentle movement making him shiver pleasantly. “I prefer not to see you ill.”

“All right,” Eli sighed and sat up. “Let me have it while it’s hot; it’s even worse cold.”

Thrawn pressed a steaming mug of passhk tea into Eli’s hands. It was the only remedy for a virus Eli had caught in his second winter in Csaplar, a truly unpleasant experience that had lasted weeks since it didn’t respond to antivirals. He’d gotten it again the previous year and it had been even worse.

Pashk was astringent, almost too bitter to stand, with an oddly numbing spicy aftertaste. It was thick and syrupy on Eli’s tongue. It  _lingered_. He held his nose and gulped it down, scalding his throat in the process, barely managing not to gag.

He shook his head and handed off the mug back to Thrawn. “Are you laughing at me?” he asked.

“No,” Thrawn said, evenly, but Eli knew that was a lie. “Will you continue to rest?”

While the experience of actually drinking pashk was unpleasant, its aftereffects, at least, made it worthwhile. Eli felt its warmth spreading through his limbs like he was sinking into a hot bath. Thrawn had his hand on Eli’s chest, pressing him back down.

“Do I have a choice?” Eli murmured. “I’d think you were worried about me. I’ve done twelve of these winters now, you know.”

“I’ll stay as well,” Thrawn said, slipping an arm around Eli’s waist. “You have a distressing tendency to ignore your biology. You are Chiss in all but genetics. There is nothing to prove. Rest.”

There was always something to prove, in Csaplar. Thrawn knew it, but what he had meant was that Eli had nothing to prove to him. And Thrawn hadn’t argued with Eli’s point about him being worried. That warmed Eli more than anything else.

Neither of them were the type to talk about what it had been like, being apart. About the depth of what they felt for each other. As the wind picked up again, they both fell silent, Thrawn stroking the hair at the nape of Eli’s neck.

None of it needed to be said, Eli thought, closing his eyes. There was nothing to prove. 

 


End file.
